UC Santa Cruz

Background: Sexism is a pervasive problem that manifests differently across cultures; however, much sexism research has not applied a cultural perspective. My dissertation bridges this gap by applying a cultural framework to examine sexism development among Mexican-heritage youth living in the United States by considering (a) culturally relevant socialization sources, (b) perceptions of sexism norms in US-American and Mexican culture, and (c) dimensions of ethnic identity. Method: I surveyed 699 Mexican-heritage college students from three universities (75.5% women, 19.2% men, 4.7% nonbinary genders; M = 19.93 years old). Participants responded to close-ended measures of (a) restrictive gender messaging from older relatives, familial peers (e.g., cousins, siblings), and non-familial peers, (b) ethnic identity centrality and ethnic typicality importance, (c) hostile and benevolent sexism, and to (d) an open-ended prompt about cultural sexism perceptions between US-American and Mexican cultures. The open-ended responses were then coded to determine perceptions of either (a) Similar Cultural Sexism, (b) More US-American Cultural Sexism, or (c) More Mexican Cultural Sexism. Results: Restrictive gender messages (RGM) were most frequently attributed to older relatives than peers and least frequently attributed to familial peers. The youth primarily perceived either Similar Cultural Sexism (39%) or More Mexican Cultural Sexism (34%). Those who were further along in their college years were most likely to perceive Similar Cultural Sexism. Additional analyses revealed current sexism endorsement was: (1) positively related to familial peers’ RGM above and beyond RGM from older relatives and non-familial peers; (2) positively related to ethnic typicality importance and (3) negatively related to ethnic centrality. Non-familial peers’ RGM was only positively linked to benevolent sexism and older relatives’ RGM was not linked to either current sexism. Conclusion: My research highlighted the importance of considering cultural and developmental processes in tandem to identify socialization sources (i.e., familial peers). Notably, the findings indicated many Mexican-heritage college youths were critical of sexism, and they were negotiating narratives of cultural sexism. Finally, the current study underscored positive ethnic identity as a buffer against embracing sexism and the need to uplift narratives of Mexican cultural diversity.